lude acts and recreational drug use

Yup, that's right, I was in Canada tonight! Julie, Kate and I made the trek to Surrey to watch Twilight. We got there a bit early, so we stopped at the drug store to pick up some 222's and some drug I didn't know I could get there... Roblaxin. OTC muscle relaxers. Looking forward to trying those out (but only if I get a headache, which should be any moment now...)!


Kate picked up her hubby a consolation gift for being stuck at home on a Saturday night... Sour Cream & Bacon Ruffles. His response? "Mmmmm....bacon". Very appropriate.


Saw the movie. Besides the fact that I am so happy I went to see it (bummed it was only 2 hours, and it only had a couple of cheese moments, so f.u. Tracy) it cost us... $4.50 Canadian to see the movie (about $3.80 us). We were so stoked to get in so freaking cheap! On a Saturday night! WTF?! The three of us got in for the price of one ticket in the U.S.!



Afterwards we stopped at Tim Horton's to get some Timbits (the name disturbs me a tad) and talk about the movie. We went to sit down and promptly moved tables. Why?

The crowd at Tim Horton's just got odder as the night wore on, so we cruised back to the border and headed back home.

I'm so glad we all went, and I am so going back to Surrey to watch the next Twilight movie (New moon is out Nov. 20 this year).

Progress Report

I got Natalie's progress report from her teacher. She is doing fantastic in each subject and progressing right on track.
A few comments from the report:
-Natalie is always cooperative and respectful of other people's feelings and is well liked by her classmates.
-Natalie is an excellent listener at circle time.
-Natalie loves to participate in all of our art and music activities. She loves to sing and dance at circle time, and is always excited to join in small group activities.
-I love Natalie's enthusiasm for school. She has such a sweet personality and a kind heart. We all enjoy having her in our class.

On another note, I have to stop posting about Twilight (at least I'll try to stop). I'm getting a bit silly about the whole damn thing. I'm just thankful that I am finished reading them. I finished the tidbit that was on the website (264 pages) and this morning I woke up feeling a little lighter, like I was free to resume life again without the constant obsession. But I am going to the movie on Saturday. I can't help myself. I am a 13 year old girl.

It. Is. Over.

I'm still contemplating reading the "leaked" pages from Stephanie Meyers 5th book. She put it up on her website, but I still feel like I'd be invading her privacy.
I finished breaking dawn, the 4th and possibly final book in the Twilight series. Seriously, just read the first book, either you'll be slurped up and worthless (and $40 in the hole) after dragging your children to the bookstore at 9pm on a Friday night to buy the copies of the sequels that you couldn't bum off your friends fast enough; or you'll grow bored by Chapter 3 and forget about it. But I'm telling ya, I haven't been that hooked by a series in a very long time. Even the Harry Potter books began to read like movie scripts to me after the 2nd book. But these books she wrote for pure literary pleasure. I know they are "teen" reads, but hey, I also liked Dawson's Creek at 30, so what can I say (I'm saying "Jackie, go read the damn book")

And after reading vampire novels all week, what did I read to my children tonight for bed? The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss. Sick, aren't I?

Bromance

This morning Brady declared he wanted to make a card for his friend Cole. He feverishly went to work on it (he is not one for arts and crafts, so this was a little unusual) and when he was finished, he rolled it up, secured it with a rubber band and dashed outside and stuck it in the mail box (before we realized what he was doing). So I had to put a note in our box (since we have those security boxes, I couldn't retrieve it on my own) requesting the card back, which I did.

Here is the card:

It is a picture of Brady and his two buddies from school: Cole and Cameron. Too cute!

Happy Birthday, Brudda!

Grandma showing off her new balancing skills thanks to her practice on her Wii fit. Brady raced up and down the ramps at the school (Skateboarding is not a crime!)

We headed south today with my mom to spend the day with my Brother, Richard (his birthday is on Wednesday). We ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant (Las Palmas in Mill Creek), and we got to meet his new roommates as well as his girlfriend and her son (who happens to be 2 weeks older than Natalie). She was very nice, and her son is very sweet (his roommates were nice as well, just didn't see a whole lot of them).
The kids, my mom and I headed to Mariner high school to play while my brother had a job interview (apparently he already got the job, they just wanted to know what position he wanted. Don't you wish all job interviews went like that?). I never realized exactly where Mariner was, since I thought it was where all the Mukilteo kids went, and here we were in Lynnwood by I-5.
Now I'm off to drag my kids to the book store so I can buy the next to Twilight books... I devoured book #2. It's bad.

We All Celebrate!

This was the first performance our school has ever had (in the 7 years the school has been open). That bummed me out, since performances were one of my fondest memories of grade school (though I realize that my kids won't ever have a Christmas concert in public school) but also made me hopeful that this will be a new tradition. The parent turnout was overwhelming, so hopefully the school was encouraged by that to do more.
The video is kind of long, and with the excess caffeine, Natalie dancing and bumping me, and the over-exuberant parents blocking the video several times, the quality is mediocre at best.
Brady is on the left side, wearing a grey shirt and his daddy's German cap (though you can't see it). Aiden is on the right hand side of the video. I kept taping after a couple of the songs ended, and that proves to be more entertaining than the actual performances.
But here is Brady's first Elementary school performance. They sang:
-Hello to all the children of the world
-Kookaburra
-Rainbow 'round me
-Pinata
-We all celebrate

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I hate a good book...

Because it causes me to be a lousy mother and and insomniac (which doesn't help the mother thing either). I absolutely love reading, and have always been an avid one, but my passion for reading does not mix well with raising children. I like to curl up and disappear into the story, and I just can't lose myself as much as I wish I could.
I started on Chapter 2 of Twilight yesterday. I'm done. I'm itching to get my hands on the next book. But I've done little else in between Chapter 2 and the Epilogue.
I'll post pics and video of Brady's performance this evening, it was very cute.
But for now, my quote of the week (which I'm pretty good at living up to, if I say so myself):
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. ~Maggie Kuhn

Working like a dog

Ok, so I've worked two 9 hour days in a row, I don't have a lot of room to complain, but I will anyway. It's not easy when you're not used to it, and you still have dinner to make, projects to finish (Brady was "star of the week" this week and needed his poster created for it), and kids to put to bed (since I'm the primary bed time parent, it's just easier for me to do it if I'm home, or else there are lots of tears and trips up and down the stairs).
I also have lined up for tomorrow:
-office meeting at 8am
-orthodontist appointment at 9am
-leading a group craft at 10am for MOMS Club
-brunch with my work mentor at 11
-home by 12:30 so that Brady can go to school and Larry can go to work
-hosting a friend and her two children at 1 until our kids get out of school at 3:30.
-crack a beer.
And Thursday? More of the same. I don't get to go to bed tonight until I finish prepping for the craft tomorrow, I really hope it turns out (of course you'll see photos even if it doesn't).
I'm pooped. I'm going to go melt my brain on rerun sit-coms.

Hello, Mr. President

Oh, happy day.

Peeking out from the covers

Larry has inventory tonight, which means he belongs to Costco for the next 16 hours. And that he'll be worthless tomorrow.
I'm feeling slightly better, and Larry read that exercise was still beneficial even if you were sick (who gets paid to study these things? I want names, people!) so when Maggie called looking to go for a walk/hike, I agreed. I don't get to call in sick for my mommy duties, so I suppose running them until their legs fell off was a good alternative to having to entertain them myself.
It was a lovely winter day, not a cloud in the sky, and Maggie and I wrangled 5 children quite nicely, I must say.
We also received a nice windfall from our neighbors. They have two girls that are a bit older than Natalie, so she receives many hand-me-downs. Today was the mother-load. Natalie got a box of dress-up clothes, a dollhouse, a whole bunch of Floam, and a few other tidbits. Brady is happy to get another remote controlled toy, this time a Mike from Monsters, Inc.
They are such generous neighbors and friends. However, I did my good deed for the day earlier, and I believe this was my good karma coming 'round once again.

P.S.!!! Norman's results came back, and it appears to only be inflammation! So he'll continue on his antibiotics and prednisone, but it doesn't seem to be cancerous! Hurray!

Death warmed over

that's how my Mother would describe my appearance right now. I'll be up to blogging once my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode in a mucus-y fallout. How come the kids get 24 hours of the sniffles, and I'm struck down like I stepped in front of a Mack truck?
Sniff & Whine,
Heather

Rico Suave and Paper Dolls

Brady has gone on a haircutting strike. He used to insist on a buzz every 6 weeks. Lately, he's been "doing" his hair. He sprays his head with detangler and brushes it up into who-knows-what. I think we'll have a sit down and talk about what exactly he's trying to accomplish. But all I know is that moments before he left for school today he disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared looking like this (sorry, not the best photograph):

Brady also had to turn in his heritage paper doll. My idea for a stained tank-top and trucker hat got shot down, so I actually did some research online and mooched some fabric scraps from my mom (She claims she is the Queen of Crap, I mean Craft). We are mostly German, with a good streak of Danish in there. So Brady's fella is wearing Lederhosen with a Danish hat and cape. I threw in the deer skin boots since we have a long history of huntsmen too.

A little late but worth the wait

Natalie's ginormous class (luckily there are 3 energetic teachers!)
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

I now have this 3 foot tall tree in my house. In January.

Yesterday we finally had Natalie's pageant. It was very short and sweet. The kids were stoked to get Christmas cookies in January.

Some notes on the movie: The little girl in red to Natalie's right did not move for the entire performance, the little boy that I panned over to is a twin, and he had been grinning like a ninny for most of the song (of course he stopped as soon as I panned my camera over to him), and at the end of the 2nd Jingle bell song the lyrics are normally "'cause Christmas time is here". The teachers got the kids to sing "'cause Christmas time in gone!". Very cute.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Two tidbits

I saw what I think might have been the nicest bumper sticker today:
May you arrive safely at your destination.
Very zen. I saw a couple of smart alecky ones too, but they've lost my attention.
And Larry and were looking at drag queen names today (a short but strange path to that topic) and Larry got a confused look on his face and then said it out loud. That's when it clicked:
Penny Tration.
Bwa-ha-ha.

5/4 of people are bad at fractions

There was a positive today: Norman is now wearing Larry's shirt that I hate. Larry thinks that his t-shirt that states the above is hilarious. I think it's obnoxious. Luckily he pitted it out quickly so now Norm is wearing as a wound-licking deterrent.
The Vet was not hopeful about his tumor, she put him on an antibiotic and Prednisone. The Prednisone is about all we can do to treat it and cause him less discomfort. I should know more Thursday.
As much as I'm saddened by this news, I'm finding myself feeling slightly ambiguous about Norm's diagnosis, just as I've felt with the past animals we've lost since we had children. I'm woefully practical and wish I was more purely emotional at times like this. I hate to feel this way, but my practical side says "hey, it's not me or Larry or the kids or our parents" when I am also sad because he was my first "adult" dog, Larry and my first pet together, the dog that taught my children how to love a pet and not be fearful of big dogs. He's such a joy to our family, yet I've distanced my brain because life can be (and has been) so much worse. I'm admitting a slightly ugly side of me, but it's the truth.
As he sits near me as I blog, my heart breaks for his future. He's an eternal puppy, at 11 he still jumps and plays and is as mischievous as ever. He is a sweet boy and I love him.
I'll get a photo of him in his T-shirt (as well as post Natalie's Pagaent tonight when Larry brings the camera back home!)

Knee deep in dog hair

Unfortunately I have to give ol' Norman a bath tonight because he has a Vet appointment tomorrow. And he stinks. Bad.
Norman has another tumor, this time on his front shoulder, and he has licked it raw. That makes me think that it's more than just another fatty tumor. He beat cancer over 2 years ago in his hind leg (it was a very aggressive rare form, and it looked like a third testicle, it was gross). And he has been progressively getting slower since he was diagnosed with a paralyzed larynx this summer.
So tomorrow at 4:30 (anybody want to watch my kids?) I take him in for a consult. Larry and I have already agreed that no life-saving action will be taken, as his larynx is terminal, there really isn't a point in fighting cancer too.
I'm just bummed, he's my baby (really, you should see him around me) and he is still so full of energy. And his birthday is this week, he'll be 11.
This will also be our children's first real experience with death. All of our other animals died when they were much younger, but we talk about them, and our neighbors and in-laws have lost pets that our children knew.
Ugh.

Recharged... just in time.

Yesterday was so much fun creating with my friends. And of course the exchange of snarky glances when a "colorful scrapper" would walk by. It's funny how different we all feel about scrapbooking and what we deem beautiful/creative/interesting.
After a day filled with fun and energy, I actually beat my children home. They had a fun-filled day with their Grandma Sue and were still sowing their oats at 9pm. We finally got them to bed around 9:45, only to be awoken at 3:30 in the morning by the unforgattble Croup bark. Natalie was woefully unhappy and uncomfortable. And after 45 minutes in a steamy bathroom, she curled up at the foot of my bed and slept until 9:30. She's been dining on Jell-O, 7-Up, and Honey (for her cough) all day and loving every minute of it. It's amazing how fast children fall ill and recover.
So we spent the day lazily at home, and Larry did some more plumbing work (this time it was the constantly running toilet).
I hope Natalie is 100% for her perpetually postponed pagaent on Tuesday!

Me time!

I'm moments away from leaving for a crop where I get to scrap for 12 hours. Keep your fingers crossed that I'm productive! Aww, what do I care? I'm without responsibility for 12 hours, I could just sit there and gossip and snack and I'd be happy!

P.S. Brady just put on his first pair of SIZE 7 Levi's. And they fit (well, with the waist cinched in as far as possible). The poor boy has been wearing "capri's" to school because he hates wearing baggy-waisted pants. I can't believe he's wearing a 7. I wasn't so shocked when he started wearing that size for long sleeve shirts, since both of my kids have monkey arms (Natalie is in a 5, she'll be 4 in 6 weeks). Why didn't anybody tell me that my babies would grow up so fast? (shutup)

Prepare for an earthquake

Natalie's pageant has been cancelled twice due to natural disasters; it's tentatively planned for this Tuesday, so I suggest watching the weather report for tornadoes, fires, or earthquakes.

I tried to film the Nooksack river on my way home from the in-laws place today, but the video is awful and doesn't really show you anything that gives you a good idea of just how bad it is. Oh well. Thankfully my in-laws home was not impacted by the floods, everything looked great up there (it looked like it could use a scrapbooking retreat though).

Brady brought home this sweet little ornament he made. It's only 3 weeks after Christmas, I can still display it, right?

And how sweet is this? Brady's $16.00 Indiana Jones lunch pail (bought special at Disneyland) was the biggest piece of crappola ever (don't think I didn't email Disney with a piece of my mind about that), so he is taking his lunch to school in paper sacks until we can find another replacement (he wasn't too keen on taking my green paisley Vera Bradley lunch bag for some reason). Sometimes I draw little pictures on it just to give it some personality. I was unloading Brady's backpack after school today, and found his lunch bag (I was at work this morning so Larry packed B's lunch):

I just think it's sweet to find love notes from daddy's.

Flood

The whole county is under water (hush, I'm telling my 2 readers that don't live in Bellingham). Larry has to zig zag his way home tonight, as most major roads are closed due to water. I've been trying to find the video that Larry is dying to see: people were jetskiing down Iowa St. today I guess. They've had to release water to go down Whatcom Creek so that Lake Whatcom won't flood the homes, which is causing major urban flooding.

Larry was outside at midnight last night digging a trench away from our home. We have a french drain in our driveway, that feeds to the same place that our front roof drain feeds, and to make a long story short, it was feeding right into our foundation, which also happens to be Brady's bedroom window. So he had to divert all that water, then this morning he was on the roof trying to unclog another gutter on the back of our house. Thankfully that is all the damage done (so far).

I spent 12 hours at work today doing "the big clean". I'm physically spent. And my poor kids spent a little less than half of the day with me! For reward, I'm letting them sleep in my room tonight (at least until they fall asleep and I can haul them downstairs). I think I'm going to crawl in myself. I have to be back to work at 7am!

Here are some photos and links about the flooding:

Whatcom County Road Closures & Restrictions

SkyCam coverage of South Whatcom/Skagit Counties

Urban Flooding in Bellingham

Guide Meridian (where Larry works)

The road at Lake Whatcom (I think this is South Bay)

The town of Acme.

It's raining, it's pouring

We've gotten 3 1/2 inches TODAY. "They" were forecasting that we would get 6" by Friday. I don't think that's going to be a problem.

Both kids went to school (happily!) today, and I have begun taking Tuesdays off, and today I realized that this may have been the best decision I've made in a long time. Really, I took Tuesdays off because Larry works early on Tuesdays about 60% of the time. So my schedule was always being changed at work to reflect this. So now I just take them off, and find myself with a couple of hours all to my very own. I've been using my free hours at Treasury of Memories since I drop Brady off at school 20 minutes before Tuesday Card Class begins. But now I'm thinking I might change that up and do nothing during that time, and go to card class in the evening when Larry gets home.

My scrapbooking desk is looking mighty fine, and I've got a big pile for the garage sale to boot. I had to postpone the big clean until today, since I awoke with a migraine yesterday. I think I jolted out of bed when my alarm clock went off and I shook my brain inside. I was miserable until about 2 am this morning. I did however, manage to have a lovely lunch with Huggins, Carly, and Natalie. It was a very bright spot in an otherwise dreary day.

Oh, and photos from the "Crazy Boys":
Larry standing by the fallen tree they encountered.

Duck pond...frozen.
Brady looks like he is freezing his tookus(sp?) off, but having a great time!

Brady in front of duck pond.

Crazy boys

Larry just comment to me... "you don't have to blog everything, Heather". To him I say nay. We're back in action today, Larry and I completely reorganized our computer room, every bit of furniture in there has a new home. I think I like it. And I ended up with a bigger scrapbooking desk! Right now it's covered in software, but tomorrow I'll finish putting things in their proper place. What I hate about these projects is that once everything is ready to be put back, it's time to start making dinner and the kids are at their breaking point.
The boys also took a quick break to ride their bikes. Of course that meant that they rode their bikes in the snow and wind (what makes a blizzard?). They rode of the Northridge trail (the height of so much controversy in Bham right now!) and walked on the frozen duck pond.
I made another "empty out the freezer/pantry" meal tonight and it turned out much better. And I actually had all the ingredients to make tonight's meal.
Larry took pictures of their bicycle adventure but I'm blogging on the laptop tonight (while watching Clean House) so I'll have to update photos tomorrow!
Brady goes back to school tomorrow! Life is returning to normal. Since he missed a whole week before winter break due to snow, he's been out of school nearly a month! He's missed his friends and teacher, and I think we have all missed our routine.

Oh, look! I found my pity pot!

I worked so diligently around the house yesterday. But after a late evening followed by a night of fitful sleep (and a size 10 foot in my back, thank you Natalie), I woke up in a slump. That and payday is still a week away and the bills are mounding. I hate that January is our insurance month. Auto insurance is due, as well as Christmas (though 95% of Christmas was cash) bills, and all the medical bills got reconciled and now we're receiving 2008 bills. I hate Aetna insurance. We're battling 2 bills from visits for both Larry and myself that got approved, but now they are not paying. And don't get me started on the $1600+ we got stuck with for Brady's speech therapy. Seriously. I could rant for 4 paragraphs. Oh, and that flood in our kitchen last week? Yeah, now there is a big bubble under our flooring in two places in our kitchen. $$$Flush.
So I've been doing my best to be frugal, both out of necessity and just because I'd like to live my life a little more (by living with less).
Which brings me to my pity pot. I went through my pantry list and decided to try making "Cheeseburger Pie". I found the recipe online, and it looked good, if not a bit white trash. Most of the comments on the recipe went along the lines of "I served it up with Tots and it was excellent!" or "If the kids aren't eating any, I put peas and mushrooms in it" (because the kids can't eat it with any nutritional value?) I had all of the ingredients, and the topper was just Bisquick. I opened my box (way in the back of the pantry) of Bisquick... Weevils. Blech! Then I decided to go all pioneer woman and make my own Bisquick mix. Yup. Except for that I had like 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder left. So I had to make my own baking powder too. Which I did. So now it's in the oven. I have no idea if this crap is edible at this point or not. Because I was also a little short in the shortening department (an ingredient in making your own Bisquick). Ack.
Then... as I'm struggling to make this godforsaken meal, my co-worker Vickie calls me and invited me over to have a girls night over at her house and watch Mama Mia! (which I'm dying to see, I love ABBA). But alas, I have children. And a husband who works until 8:30 on a Saturday night. So I am home, knowing that there is fun being had without me.
Mama Mia, here I go again...


P.S. Dinner turned out decent. Tasted like a meatloaf (casserole style) with a tasty biscuit on top. Not a superstar dinner, but not the nightmare I imagined it could have been!

How to party like a mommy...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

As I listened to Carly lament on her first New Years as a parent, I thought about how much my New Year's Eve celebrations have changed through the years. These last few years have been the most fun, celebrating with a group of great friends and our ever-growing (in quantity and in size) children.

Natalie sporting her cracker crown. She also is wearing the remnants of her eyeshadow kitty cat whiskers and nose that Brady applied.

Brady and Aiden having a giggle over dinner (I'm sure there was potty talk involved).

Miss Grace had a great time pushing little Ariana around in the dolly stroller. Aren't they both the cutest? The label on these just cracked me up! It reminded my of when we'd buy our dog the white bag that said DOG FOOD or my dad drinking BEER.

The details are a little fuzzy the first New Year's that Larry and I celebrated as parents. Brady was 8 weeks old, we were exhausted and overwhelmed. Larry's mom bought Brady this cute little velvet tuxedo that he wore to our company Christmas party, and I decided his first New Year was a black tie event. In the wee hours, as our son fell asleep as he always did, with his arms over his head (I've heard that means that they feel very secure when they do that since it's such a vulnerable position). For some reason we had these teeny-tiny Sapporo beers (like a 3 inch tall can and skinnier than a red bull). We thought (and still think) it would be funny to stick one of these tiny beers under Brady's arm to make it look like he passed out with a drink. Larry took the picture to work, and several of our childless female coworkers thought it was extremely distasteful. What can I say, I offend easily. I don't mean I personally get offended, but that I easily offend others. It's what I do.


Woefully, the picture went missing. All we have are some candid's from before we got the big idea to lay a beer next to our infant; and Cameron has the only copy of the photo in existence of the actual event. It's on a coffee mug. So don't break that one, Cameron!